


i see/we see stars

by HavocRoyale



Category: Mean Girls - Richmond/Benjamin/Fey
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cady is Shane's Math Tutor, F/M, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Slow Burn, Tutoring, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:54:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26759785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HavocRoyale/pseuds/HavocRoyale
Summary: Shane just needed a better math tutor...but what he got was a cute, funny, kind girl who throws a wrench in the very worn out routine his life has been for five whole years.He didn't need more distractions his senior year at Northshore.
Relationships: Cady Heron/Aaron Samuels (Briefly), Cady Heron/Shane Oman, Regina George/Shane Oman





	i see/we see stars

**Author's Note:**

> This entire AU is basically just writing Aaron out of the plot and filling his role with Shane. No I'm not sorry. Yes I will die on the hill of Shady Is The Best Mean Girls Ship.

Shane is twisted around in his seat, arm back, ready to toss a paper plane with a note carefully tucked in over to Sonja when he hears Norbury call his name out. He freezes in place, looking sheepishly over his shoulder to the front of the class. He can hear Sonja giggling quietly, probably trying to hide the fact that she was involved.

“See me after class, Shane... _ again _ ,” She didn’t even bother to further acknowledge what he was doing.

Shane simply sets the paper plane on Sonja’s desk before turning back around, keeping his head low at focusing on the papers on his desk, “Yes, ma’am.”

A few minutes later, class was meandering on like it does and he’s being stabbed in the shoulder with a pencil. Without turning around again, he reaches his arm back and Sonja hands him the note carefully. Shane doesn’t take his eyes off of Norbury and he can only imagine Sonja’s doing it too, they don’t need to get caught passing notes  _ twice _ in one period.

He unfolds the note on his desk:

_ hey who’s the redhead behind samuels? is she the new kid? _

_ her name’s like katie or catty or smth she’s from africa _ _  
_ _ and like a total homeschool freak lol _ _  
_ _ i mean she’s cool ig she’s friends with the art freaks i think _

_ she’s kinda cute _

_ yeah ig _ _  
_ _ aren’t you like dating the queen bee tho? _

Shane grimaced, he liked Regina a lot and yeah  _ technically _ they were dating. But Regina has made it clear that it’s all for show. The real relationship is nothing more than friends with benefits...or acquaintances with benefits, they haven’t really been  _ friends _ in a long time. She can mess around with whoever else she wants, and he can too...probably. He just...hasn’t really found anyone else...yet. He quickly started writing his reply.

_ no strings attached babey! as if regina cares who i mess around with _ _  
_ _ as long as it’s not gay she won’t bat an eye _ _  
_ _ can’t risk damaging her reputation, you know how it is _

He tossed the note back onto her desk quickly, praying that Norbury didn’t see him. Twenty minutes later, the bell rang and everyone wandered out of the class. Shane stopped and stood beside the desk while he waited for everyone else to exit. Sonja punched him in the shoulder with a smile when she passed.

“Shane?” Norbury's voice drew Shane’s attention back to her and the desk, only now does he realize he’s not the only one still in here. The new girl is standing on the other side of Norbury’s desk.

She was holding her books close to her chest and rocking on her feet. She was... _ a lot _ cuter up close: flowy red hair, dark freckles, she had an obscene fashion sense of flannel, cargo shorts, and jesus sandals, but it was cute in its own way. She looked up from her feet and their eyes locked, she gave him a nervous smile and went back to studying the ground.

_ Oh...She had bright blue eyes...Shane would be lying if he said they weren’t at least a little disarming. _

“Shane?” Norbury spoke up again, he’d clearly spaced for a moment. Shane had the humility to at least act embarrassed that she definitely caught him staring, “Uh...yes ma’am?”

Norbury didn’t bother looking up at him or towards Cady, she just continued going through papers on her desk as she talked, “So I know school only started about a week ago-”

_ Oh god. Not this talk again. _

Shane groaned when Norbury continued, “ _ But _ since this is your senior year, you really can’t afford to be falling behind on your grades this year. You’re a smart kid and I don’t want you failing your senior year when you’ve come so far already.”

She stood up and handed both Shane and Cady a paper, “You need a tutor, Shane. A  _ real _ one.”

Shane tried to speak up but the teacher cut him off, “Don’t. This isn’t negotiable. And don’t tell me you already have a tutor because clearly Tyler is not helping you as much as he should be. He’s been your “tutor” since seventh grade and you  _ still _ struggle.”

Instinctively, Shane looked up across the desk to the new girl. Forgetting she was new, he was worried she’d know who Tyler was for a second. He let out a small breath when he realized there’s no way she does. Regina would kill him if it came out that he was not only in need of tutoring, but that his tutor was a  _ mathlete _ . The social hierarchy in Northshore is incredibly strict and fragile, and Shane’s not in any position to drop a rung. He didn’t look away even after the threat of danger passed, she was reading the paper Norbury handed her intently. Her eyebrows furrowed, nose scrunched up. 

_...She was really cute...Maybe he’s found someone apart from Regina to cancel plans for.  _

“Anyways, Shane, this is Cady. She just moved here from Kenya and she’s really crazy good at calculus,”  _ Cady...cute name _ , she looked embarrassed, blushing and an awkward smile as Norbury continued, “You need a tutor who, and I can only assume this is what’s happening but, who can’t being muscled out of tutoring you. And I think this could be a good experience for Cady as well, she’s in a new school, hell a new country! She could probably use a friend, and you’re a nice guy, Shane.”

Norbury didn’t say it, but he’s not stupid. He hears the unspoken “You also need better friends” in her statement...He really didn’t want  _ another _ tutor, but he wasn’t going to get out of this. Shane nodded, “Yeah, okay, whatever. Can I go now? I’m supposed to be in gym now.”

“Yes, go on, you can leave,” Norbury groaned as she waved the two students out of the classroom.

For a moment they both just stood outside the door, Cady was the first to break the silence.

“Sorry, if that was like...weird. I didn’t know she was gonna like...force you into something like that.”

“No, it was fine. It’s fine, I just-”  _ Watch what you say, Oman _ , “I just don’t think it’s that big of a deal, I guess. Um...so like, I have after school practice Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. And I’ll have games on Fridays and Saturdays starting in like a month. But I’m pretty much free at any other time of the week.”

Cady pulled out her phone, “Right, so like...I really don’t know when I’m gonna be free ever cause like Regina seems to just appear out of thin air sometimes to drag me to the mall or whatever-”

“Regina?” Shane’s heart cracked a little, if Cady was one of Regina’s friends, that meant she’d be strictly off limits, Regina would have a cow if he so much as looked at Cady... _Go figure._

Cady chuckled, “Oh, yeah. I guess she kind of like took me under her wing when I first came here.”

Shane rolled his eyes,  _ As if Regina did that just out of the goodness of her heart _ , “Huh, she’s just never mentioned you before.”

“Oh! Wait! That’s right! Aren’t you like...her boyfriend or something?”  _ Or something, yeah. _

“Not- Well- It’s...complicated,” He rolled his shoulders, “I’m kind of like...just her friend...sort of...that she sleeps with sometimes?”

_ Smooth moves, Oman. _

Cady’s face was red again, “O-Oh...I...um...okaaay. So anyways...I think I’ll be able to tutor on Thursdays? We don’t really do anything on Thursdays.”

Shane coughs, trying to hide the fact that he was also blushing now. He knows they don’t have plans on Thursdays, he knows that because that’s usually when he and Regina hook up. Cady’s looking up at him, confused.

“Uh, well...Thursdays are…”  _ Oh, what the hell, Regina can suck it up, she ditches him all the time for less important things _ , “Thursdays are good. Don’t worry about it.”

* * *

Shane finds Regina after school in the parking lot. He’d rather tell her now and let her be annoyed than just wait until the last minute and make her angry.

“Shane?”

“Uh, hey, yeah. I wanted to talk to you about Thursday,” She already looked aggravated, “Well, like...Norbs is making me get a new tutor. A-and she’s like only free on Thursdays so…”

He doesn’t know why he doesn’t tell Regina who his tutor is. But it doesn’t matter because her eyes narrow anyways, “ _ She? _ ” 

Shane’s heart jumps up into his throat, “I-I...yeah? She’s just a tutor, I can’t really get out of it. Norbs said it’s mandatory, I have to do it…”

Regina’s stare does not lessen. He feels like curling back in on himself, cowering away and hiding from her. God, Shane hated it when she looked at him like that. 

“Who is it this time?”

“Uh—“ He has to tell her, “Cady Heron...the new girl.” 

She just sighs and shakes her head, getting into her car, “Okay, great. Fine. You owe me dinner since you’re like totally blowing me off Thursday.”

“Yeah...of course.”

_ He doesn’t really have the money for that... _

She pulls him to her by his hand, kissing him on the corner of his mouth, “I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Mhm,” He’s grinning like an idiot, but he knows she just did that because there’s others around and she has her whole reputation to uphold or whatever, “I love you.”

It came out soft and mumbled, if Regina heard him she didn’t acknowledge it as she backed up and drove out of the parking lot.

Shane walks back around to the front of the school, full preparing to be walking home alone as he usually does. Except there’s a group of three standing around at the crosswalk. He recognizes the first two immediately, Janis and Damian. The third person is shorter than both of them, obscured by their bodies in the way.

He calls out to the group before he’s close enough to realize the third member is Cady.

_ Fuck. _

“Hey Oman,” Janis shoved him a little on his approach, “How’s our favorite jock doing on this fine Tuesday?”

“Well...uh,” His eyes meet Cady’s for a moment, “Norbs signed me up for some mandatory tutoring...with your friend here.”

Cady looked shocked he told them. Damian chuckled and nudged Cady, putting on some fake exaggerated accent that Shane couldn’t place, “Oh, our little super spy?”

_ He doesn’t really understand what Damian means by that. It sounds like nothing he wants to know though. _

“When do you have tutoring?” Janis’ eyes were trained on him, like she didn’t trust him or something. He swallows thickly, “Uh...Thursdays as of right now...Could probably change though, right, Cadster?”

Cady simply nods awkwardly. Janis’ eyes flickering between the two of them, “Dam, why don’t you drive Cads home yourself today. I’m gonna walk with Shane.”

_ Fuck…..again. _

Damian just rolls his eyes, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just ditch me and Caddy for your secret het lover!”

Both Shane and Janis make gagging noises at the implication they would ever date. Yeah, Shane loved Janis, but  _ platonically _ . She was like a sister to him, not to mention a whole lesbian, and a whole different kind of girl than what constitutes as his “type.”

Cady looks kind of concerned as Damian whisks her away, snagging the keys from Janis’ hand as they passed. Once they’re out of earshot, Janis shoots Shane a look that reminds him of the look his ma gives him whenever he tells her he has a “date” with Regina. He lets out a groan, “God, what do you want to say? Get it out of your system.”

“What the fuck are you doing with Caddy?”

_ Okay, so she doesn’t trust him. Good to know. Lovely that one of his closest friends doesn’t trust him. _

__ “Being tutored?” He started crossing the street to start on their walk home, he was  _ so _ lucky to have Janis as one of his neighbors...meaning she would be here to  _ talk _ the  _ entire _ way home,  _ no breaks _ , “Your aunt decided Tyler isn’t a good enough tutor for me and thinks Cady could use a friend.”

“Caddy  _ has _ friends.”

He rolled his eyes, “Yeah, I know. She told me about Regina when we were trying to plan a schedule earlier.”

Janis laughs, it’s dry and sarcastic, “Regina is  _ not _ one of her friends. Maybe she  _ thinks _ she is, but she’ll learn soon enough how fake she is.”

Shane really didn’t have the energy to hear another of Janis’ rants about how horrible Regina was.  _ Yeah, she had some good points and yeah, she was pretty justified in her bad opinion of the blonde. But no, Shane didn’t want to hear it. Janis’ hatred of Regina makes up a good 50% of their talks nowadays. _

“Look, Sarks, I don’t really want to hear it about Regina okay, so if we could just maybe stay on topic, that’d be nice?”

“Right...Sorry,” Janis was fiddling with her rings and jacket cuffs, “Just...listen it’s not that I don’t trust you-”

_ Too late to claim that, Sarkisian. _

“It’s just that I don’t want Caddy to get hurt...she’s already treading a dangerous line with Regina, Shane.”

“Sarks, she’s literally just my tutor, I’m not going to do shit,” He can’t anyways. Not only is she Regina’s friend, but she’s also Janis’, making her completely and utterly off limits, “You don’t want me messing around with her. Regina doesn’t want me messing around with her. I get it, okay?”

He adjusts the straps of his backpack, “Even if I wanted to like...I’m not-...I’m not like Regina. I don’t treat people the way she does, you know that. I just wouldn’t.”

Janis raised an eyebrow, “Yeah, until Regina calls. Then you’d ditch and run back to her like a kicked puppy.”

_ What the fuck does that mean? _

“Look, it’s not like I’m interested anyways. She’s cute, but I’ve got Honeybee yknow? So it doesn’t fuckin’ matter, okay? So  _ drop _ it.”

“Shane-“ Janis looks up at him with a sad look in her eyes. She doesn’t say what she’s thinking but he knows.

“ _ She doesn’t care about you.” “Why are you still waiting on that bitch?” “Regina’s just using you.” “You could do better.” “You deserve better.” _

It’s nothing he hasn’t said to himself in the mirror. The rest of the walk is silent. They split off as they get to his house, and they wave goodbye. Shane groans as his back presses against the door once he’s inside. He can hear music playing down the hall and he can hear muffled laughter.

_ Sonja. _

He tosses his bag on the couch and walks down the hall, freezing at the door to Nell’s room. Sonja is definitely over and she and his sister are...probably making out.

_ Ew. _

Shane’s face scrunches up at the thought but knocks on her door. He needs to talk to someone who isn’t going to chew him out for being tutored by the new girl. No reply…

“Nell! Can you keep it in your pants for ten minutes? I need to talk to Sonny!” He knocks again, much harder.

He hears his sister groan and there’s some more shuffling around and then the door opens a crack. Only enough for Sonja to slide out of the room. She’s got one of Nell’s baggy shirts on and he can see a few spots on her neck that are definitely hickies.

_ Gross. _

“Do you have to be such a cockblock?”

He just shrugs and walks into his own room across the hall, “I dunno, do you have to fuck my sister so much?”

Sonja laughs behind him as she follows, “Uh, yeah? She’s fuckin’ hot, dude.”

Shane’s starting to remember why he normally goes to the gym instead of home after school most days.

“Ignoring that. Anyways, Norbs is forcing me to take mandatory tutoring now.”

The short girl rolls her eyes, “Did you really interrupt me and Nell to tell me that you have to hang out with the mathlete twinks again?”

“Nope. She’s making the new girl tutor me, Cady Heron.”

“Oh fuck,” Sonja punches him in the arm again, smiling big, “You lucky bitch, you gonna try and make some moves?”

Shane snorts, “Hell no, she’s apparently friends with Sarkisian  _ and _ Regina. If I so much as look at her funny, one of them will break my nose and the other will castrate me.”

“Oh...shit, Shane, that sucks.”

“Thanks. I didn’t notice. And to make it worse, Reg’s making me take her out to dinner to make up for cancelling on her Thursday.”

“Dude, you can’t afford that. Tell her no?” Sonja’s face turned serious, Shane really didn’t need to be giving her more reasons to hate Regina.

“I can’t do that and you know it, Sonny. I’m already in the doghouse for the mandatory tutoring and new girl shit,” He sighed, “Look, I really don’t want to hear your spiel about Reg, okay? I already got an earful from Sarks today.”

He hesitates for a moment, “Sarks also apparently thinks I’ve turned into some sort of male Regina or somethin’ I guess.”

“She  _ what? _ ”

“Yeah, she’s all up in arms that I’m going to just  _ ruin _ Cady or whoever. Like I’m gonna treat her the way Reg treats me...it’s stupid, whatever. You’re free to go back to banging my sister if you want. If not, I’m about to blaze it and try to get some homework down, feel free to join me.”

Sonja shoves him again before turning around to leave, “You already know what I’m doing, sorry bro! And don’t worry about Janis, I’ll talk to her, alright? I can use the common ground of We Both Hate Regina George’s Guts and also We Care About You, Oman to get through to her probably.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Good luck with that...Can you at least keep the noise down with Nell?”

“Absolutely not!”

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos & Comments are greatly appreciated!!!
> 
> Also let me know if you like it + if you wanna see more! If you guys like it, I'll make sure to make time to work on this when I get the chance! I'll probably only post the next chapter once I've finished the full fic.


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